Venice

by Chambers, David; Pullan, Brian; Fletcher, Jennifer

• ISBN13: 9780802084248
• ISBN10: 0802084249
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

This work presents important sources ? many previously unpublished in any language, and almost none previously available in English ? for the history of the city-state of Venice from its zenith to its decline.

Author Biography

David Chambers is a Reader in Renaissance Studies, Warburg Institute. Brian Pullan is with the Department of Modern History, University of Manchester.

Table of Contents

Preface	xvi
Acknowledgements	xix
List of Abbreviations	xxi
List of Contributors	xxii
List of Illustrations	xxiv
PART I GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS	1	(36)
Praise of the city of Venice, 1493	4	(17)
A pilgrim's impressions, 1480	21	(2)
Sansovino on building-materials and techniques	23	(3)
The English ambassador's notes, 1612	26	(5)
The dominions of the Venetian Republic: a report by the Spanish ambassador, c.1618	31	(6)
PART II AUTHORITY AND GOVERNMENT	37	(48)
'An Infinitie of Officers': Theory, Description and Panegyric	39	(2)
Contarini's picture of perfection: the Senate	41	(2)
The Signoria `in Pien Collegio'	43	(2)
The Doge	45	(6)
Death and election of a Doge noted by a visiting pilgrim, 1462	45	(1)
Some restrictive obligations in the promissione of Doge Moro, 1462	46	(3)
Publication of the new Doge, 1474: an eyewitness report	49	(1)
Ceremonial dignity: the Doge's procession	50	(1)
Elder statesmen: the Procurators of St Mark's	51	(1)
Watchdogs and public prosecutors: the Avogadori di Comun, 1515	52	(1)
The Courts of the Forty	53	(1)
State security and arbitrary power: the Council of Ten	54	(3)
`A very severe magistracy'	54	(2)
Special duties and official secrecy	56	(1)
The Great Council: procedure and function	57	(2)
Order of seating	57	(1)
Procedure in election of office-holders	58	(1)
The Chancery	59	(2)
Florentine admiration for Venice's system of government	61	(2)
Public spectacle	63	(5)
The Corpus Christi procession, 1533	63	(1)
Temporary architecture for the reception of Henri III, King of France, at the Lido, 1574	64	(2)
Defects, Corruption and Adverse Criticism	66	(2)
Benedetto Dei's invective against Venice, c.1472	68	(2)
Radical proposals (c.1500) by an aged patrician (Domenico Morosini)	70	(1)
Indignities of the Dogeship	71	(6)
The deposition of Francesco Foscari, 1457	71	(1)
Discord over a ducal election: `old and new' families, 1486	72	(1)
Financial abuses of Agostino Barbarigo: investigations in 1501	73	(2)
Leonardo Loredan's want of leadership in the war crisis, 1509	75	(1)
Alvise Mocenigo, scapegoat for misfortunes, 1577	76	(1)
Demagogic tendencies: Marino Grimani's election, 1595	76	(1)
Corrupt practices	77	(3)
Broglio: a curse or a blessing?	77	(1)
Fraudulent voting in the Great Council, 1519	78	(1)
Misconduct and fraud, 1620	79	(1)
Breaches of official secrecy	80	(1)
Reports in 1481	80	(1)
Institution of the Inquisitori di Stato, 1539	81	(1)
Opposition in the 1580s	81	(4)
Powers of the Council of Ten reduced by the younger patricians, 1583	81	(2)
Open government versus restricted government, 1589	83	(1)
A preacher criticizes the government, 1584	84	(1)
PART III LAW, ORDER AND SOCIAL POLICY	85	(46)
Crime and Punishment	87	(1)
Crimes of violence and their punishment	88	(3)
The Lords or Officials of the Night	88	(1)
Ritual execution of an alleged rapist and robber, 1513	89	(1)
Homicide mitigated by insanity: a special case, 1553-4	90	(1)
Crimes of state	91	(6)
An imprisoned foreign agent petitions for clemency, 1497	91	(1)
Execution of a Chancery secretary for breaking official secrets, 1498	92	(1)
Antonio Grimani on trial, 1500	93	(2)
The crime and punishment of Gabriel Emo, 1584-5	95	(2)
Opinions about judicial and penal administration	97	(8)
Imprisonment and execution in the 1480s	97	(2)
A Welsh visitor's comments, 1549	99	(1)
The case for convict oarsmen, c. 1553-4	99	(3)
Judges and advocates: a Florentine opinion, c.1569	102	(1)
A papal nuncio's comments on the judicial administration of Venice, c.1580	102	(3)
The Regulation of Society	105	(1)
Food for the city	105	(8)
Against bad flour, 1484, 1494	106	(1)
Growth of population and shortages of food, 1540	107	(1)
Famine and tumult in Venice, 1569-70	108	(5)
The struggle against plague	113	(7)
The plague and the pesthouses, 1464, 1468	114	(1)
The plague orders of 1541	115	(2)
The plague of 1575-7	117	(3)
The defence of morality	120	(11)
The Rialto brothel and the regulation of prostitution, 1460	120	(3)
Sexual dissimulation condemned, 1480	123	(1)
Homosexual practices unpunished, 1509	124	(2)
The regulation of prostitution, 1539	126	(1)
Prostitution and ostentation; the whore defined, 1543	127	(1)
Blasphemy: the Ave maris stella case, 1593	128	(1)
Good order and morality, 1612	128	(3)
PART IV PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WEALTH	131	(52)
Public Revenue and Expenditure	134	(2)
The valuation of houses and land, 1459	136	(1)
Levying the tenth, 1463	137	(2)
Revenues of the Venetian government in 1469	139	(4)
The sale of minor offices, 1510	143	(1)
The hazards of speculating on customs duties, 1528-9	144	(1)
Restrictions on the transfer of property to religious uses, 1536	144	(2)
Clerical taxation: the grant by Pope Paul III, 1544	146	(1)
Two mercers make a tax return, 1554	147	(1)
Revenue of the Venetian Republic in 1587, 1594 and 1602	148	(5)
Expenditure of the Venetian Republic in 1587, 1594 and 1602	153	(5)
Public Borrowing: the Monti	157	(1)
The establishment of a state loan fund, 1482	158	(2)
Investment in public loan funds and in land, 1509	160	(2)
The repayment of public debt, 1577-84	162	(5)
Commerce: Fortunes Made and Lost	166	(1)
The abundance of good things in Venice	167	(1)
In the late fifteenth century	167	(1)
In the early seventeenth century	167	(1)
The establishment of a board of trade, 1507	168	(1)
Indebtedness and business failure, c.1500	169	(2)
Nicolo Baron, Venetian citizen	169	(1)
Heinrich Stamler and brothers, German merchants	169	(2)
The activities and misfortunes of a merchant family, the Zane, 1524-50	171	(3)
Letter of a merchant in Aleppo, 1551	174	(1)
Failure of a bank, 1584	174	(1)
An agreement to establish a merchant partnership, 1596	175	(3)
Conspicuous Consumption and Styles of Living	177	(1)
A magistracy to administer sumptuary laws, 1515	178	(1)
The regulation of banquets, 1562	178	(1)
Regulation of the wearing of pearls, 1562	179	(1)
Living well: supper and conversation in Titian's house	180	(1)
Living poorly: the squalid lodgings of Anton Francesco Doni, 1550	181	(2)
PART V `THE PRESENT FACE OF RELIGION HERE'	183	(56)
The Clergy and the People	186	(1)
Elections of parish clergy, c. 1460, 1517	187	(1)
The earthquake of 1511 and the purging of sin and misbelief	188	(2)
The clergy and musicians of St Mark's, 1581, 1626	190	(3)
The churches of Venice and the education of the clergy, 1604, 1612	193	(2)
An English Protestant looks at Venetian religious life, 1608	195	(3)
Religious Houses and Reform	197	(1)
Splendour and worldliness: Santi Giovanni e Paolo in the 1480s	198	(1)
Laxity and strict observance: the reform of nunneries, 1519-21	199	(4)
Foundation of a magistracy responsible for convents, 1521	203	(1)
Abuses in the convent of San Zaccaria, 1528, 1585	204	(2)
The misconduct of nuns' servants, 1528	204	(1)
An illicit liaison between a nobleman and a nun, 1585	205	(1)
Monks, friars and nuns, c.1580	206	(4)
Fraternities of the Laity: the Scuole Grandi and Piccole	209	(1)
The rule of a lay fraternity, 1535	210	(3)
Criticism of the Scuole Grandi, 1541	213	(3)
A smith's rebellion against the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, 1555	216	(3)
Conflict and Compromise with the Holy See	218	(1)
The Interdict of Pope Sixtus IV, 1482	219	(2)
The contest for preferments, 1533	221	(2)
The Apostolic Visitation, 1580-1	223	(2)
The Interdict of Pope Paul V, 1606	225	(2)
The Jesuits, 1619	227	(2)
Heresy and Superstition	228	(1)
The appointment of three noblemen to attend the Inquisition, 1547, 1551	229	(1)
An Anabaptist synod in Venice, 1550	230	(2)
Veronese before the Inquisition, 1573	232	(4)
Magic and superstition, c.1580	236	(3)
PART VI SOCIAL ORDERS	239	(56)
The Nobility	242	(1)
The life cycle and family arrangements	243	(11)
The regulation of baptismal ceremonies, 1505	243	(1)
The registration of noble births, 1506	244	(2)
A marriage contract, 1583	246	(2)
Partial division of a fraterna, 1593	248	(1)
Clauses from the wills of a nobleman, 1606, 1611	248	(2)
A widow hands over her estate to her sons, 1613	250	(1)
Death of a patrician, 1527	251	(3)
Service to the state	254	(3)
An embassy to Spain, 1561	254	(1)
Equipping a galley during the War of Cyprus, 1570-1	255	(1)
The office of Bailo in Constantinople, 1598	256	(1)
Nobles, citizens and people in Venice, c.1618	257	(6)
The Citizenry	261	(2)
The life cycle and family arrangements	263	(5)
Pages from a family chronicle, 1456-1506	263	(3)
A merchant's child and his progress, 1509-11	266	(2)
The death and burial of a Secretary of the Council of Ten, 1524	268	(1)
The citizens, the popolo and the state	268	(4)
Nobles and citizens in Venice, 1509	268	(3)
Maximilian of Habsburg's appeal to the people of Venice, 1511	271	(1)
Service to the state	272	(4)
A secretary's career, c.1496-1516	272	(2)
Election of the Grand Chancellor, 1511	274	(1)
Losing the post of Grand Chancellor, 1581	275	(1)
Citizenship by privilege	276	(5)
Citizenship at home and abroad, 1552	276	(2)
Two citizens of Bergamo seek citizenship of Venice, 1629-30	278	(2)
Craftsmen, Boatmen and Porters	280	(1)
The craft and wares of the mercers, 1446	281	(4)
Charity, ritual and work: the charcoal-bearers, 1479	285	(1)
The boatmen of San Toma	286	(1)
The craft and the brotherhood: master bakers and German assistants, 1543	287	(2)
The protest of the Arsenal craftsmen, 1581	289	(2)
The porters at the Arsenal, 1586-8	291	(2)
Craftsmen as oarsmen: manning the reserve fleet, 1595	293	(2)
PART VII CHARITY AND THE POOR	295	(28)
The General Situation	299	(1)
The charities of Venice, 1497	299	(3)
The hospitals of Venice, c.1500	302	(1)
The general scheme for poor relief, 1529	303	(4)
The Poor in Hospital	307	(1)
An indulgence for a Venetian hospital, 1487	307	(1)
The hospital of the Incurabili, 1522, 1539	308	(2)
Chronically sick beggars are compelled to enter the hospital	308	(1)
The governing-body of the hospital	309	(1)
Foundlings and orphans	310	(4)
Adoption of a child from the foundling-hospital	310	(1)
Wages of orphans working outside the hospital of the Derelitti at Santi Giovanni e Paolo	310	(2)
Raising money by singing	312	(1)
Making sails for the Arsenal	312	(1)
Child abandonment and the hospital of the Pieta	313	(1)
Responsibilities of the Mendicanti and other hospitals, 1619	314	(2)
The House Poor and the Shamefaced Poor	316	(1)
The poor brothers of the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, 1478	316	(1)
Requests for aid from the Scuole Grandi, 1558-93	317	(3)
Antonio, shoemaker of Rio Marin	317	(2)
Filomena Stella, widow of Paulo d'Anna, formerly Guardian Grande of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco	319	(1)
The shamefaced poor, 1596	320	(3)
PART VIII `MOST OF THEIR PEOPLE ARE FOREIGNERS'	323	(30)
The Germans	328	(1)
German merchants and the exchange house, 1475	328	(1)
House rules for the new Fondaco dei Tedeschi, 1508	329	(1)
Heresy and irreligion among the Germans of Venice, c.1580	330	(1)
Auctioning the Black Eagle inn, 1630	331	(2)
The Greeks	333	(1)
The church and the Scuola at San Biagio in Castello, 1470, 1498	333	(1)
The church of San Giorgio dei Greci, 1511	334	(2)
A preacher censured for attacking the Greeks, 1596	336	(2)
`Ebrei Tedeschi': the Germanic and Italian Jews	338	(1)
The `Geto at San Hieronimo', 1516	338	(1)
The conversion of a Jew to Christianity, c.1569	339	(1)
Licence for a Jewish physician, 1589	340	(2)
Moneylending and the second-hand trade, 1624	342	(2)
'Ebrei Levantini e Ponentini': the Sephardic Jews	344	(1)
Levantine Jews and the Ghetto Vecchio, 1541	344	(1)
Motives for expelling the Marranos, 1550	345	(1)
The charter of the Jewish merchants, 1589	346	(4)
The Turks	350	(1)
House rules for the new Fondaco dei Turchi, 1621	350	(3)
PART IX CULTURAL LIFE: LEARNING AND LITERATURE, BOOK-PUBLISHING, ENTERTAINMENT	353	(32)
The Promotion of Learning and Literature	355	(2)
The origins of St Mark's library: Cardinal Bessarion's gift, 1468	357	(2)
Humanist historiography for Venice: a justification, 1487	359	(1)
The impact of printing: Aldus's workshop as an intellectual centre	360	(1)
The Rialto School of philosophy in session, 1524	361	(1)
Bembo's acknowledgement of Tuscan superiority in language	361	(1)
The establishment of schools in the sestieri, 1551	362	(2)
The Venetian Academy and its programme of universal knowledge, 1560	364	(3)
Sarpi's presence in intellectual circles, c.1600	367	(3)
The Business Organization of Early Printing and Publishing	369	(1)
A contract between two Germans to print Bibles, 1478	370	(1)
Copyright legislation to protect Sabellicus's History of Venice, 1486	371	(1)
Two partners petition for copyright to print classical Greek authors, 1497	372	(1)
Jacopo de'Barbari's panoramic view of Venice: petition for copyright, 1500	373	(1)
Business records of Aldus Manutius and Andrea di Asola, 1500-1	373	(1)
The printing of music: a composer in search of an agent, 1536	374	(3)
Entertainment	376	(1)
The Statutes of the Modesti, a Company of the Hose, 1487	377	(3)
Comedies sponsored by a Company of the Hose during Carnival, 1525	380	(1)
Entertainment in the Doge's Palace during Carnival, 1526	380	(1)
Role reversal: masquerades during Carnival, 1533	381	(1)
Aquatic spectacle: a mock naval battle, 1530	381	(1)
Commissions for verse and music, 1534	382	(1)
Reopening of theatres after the Interdict, 1607	383	(2)
PART X THE VISUAL ARTS	385	(58)
Art for the State, Confraternities and Churches	387	(3)
Literary praise for art and artists	390	(3)
The benefits to Jacopo Sansovino of working in Venice, 1537	390	(1)
Venetian art explained to foreign visitors, 1561	391	(2)
Secular commissions and political imagery	393	(12)
Perugino's contract to paint in the Hall of the Great Council, 1494	393	(1)
The clocktower on the Piazza, 1496-1500	394	(2)
Doge Loredan's perceptions of political imagery, 1509	396	(2)
Political iconography of a flagstaff base in the Piazza, c.1542	398	(2)
A programme for redecorating the Ducal Palace after the fire of 1577	400	(1)
The ceiling-framework for the hall of the Senate, 1578-82	401	(3)
A design for the new Rialto Bridge, 1587	404	(1)
Art in the service of diplomacy	405	(3)
Mantuan artists refused permission to copy a map, 1506	405	(1)
A picture for the sister of the King of France, 1515-16	406	(2)
Art in conflict with government	408	(2)
Venetian sculptors and stonemasons object to foreign competition, 1491	408	(1)
Durer is prosecuted by the Painters' Guild, 1506	408	(1)
Control over expenditure by the Procurators of St Mark's on portraits, 1580	409	(1)
Order for the destruction of a statue at Belluno, 1623	410	(1)
Art for confraternities and churches	410	(8)
A commission from the Scuola della Carita, 1539	410	(2)
Faked mosaic work at St Mark's: Titian's evidence, 1563	412	(2)
Contract of Veronese for the refectory of San Giorgio Maggiore, 1562	414	(1)
The resolution to build the church of Santa Maria della Salute, 1630	414	(3)
Private Commissions	417	(1)
An overseas order for a devotional picture, 1473	418	(1)
Doge Agostino Barbarigo's altarpiece	418	(1)
Lotto alters a portrait to please a friend, 1542	419	(1)
Lotto paints his landlord's family, 1547	420	(1)
Sacred and profane pictures for the King of Spain, 1554	421	(1)
Doge Marino Grimani orders marble sculpture for his tomb, 1601	422	(2)
Collections, Connoisseurs and Critical Values	423	(1)
Andrea Odoni's collection, 1532	424	(3)
A problem of attribution, 1529	427	(1)
Gabriel Vendramin describes and justifies his collection, 1548	428	(1)
Architectural style for the Duke of Milan's house in Venice, 1461	429	(2)
A comparison of Giovanni Bellini with later painters	431	(1)
Aretino encourages and criticizes Tintoretto, 1548	431	(1)
Palladio criticized in a dispute with the Scuola dei Mercanti, 1572	432	(3)
Working-Practice, Technique and Style of Life	434	(1)
The property of a prosperous and literate painter, 1461	435	(2)
Durer's comments on Venetian artists, 1506	437	(1)
A painter's day-to-day expenses, 1541	438	(1)
Lotto takes an apprentice, 1548	439	(1)
The elderly Titian at work	440	(1)
A sculptor orders his own tomb, 1576	441	(2)
References	443	(17)
Glossary	460	(5)
Index	465